Time to Reshuffle
Is it time to juggle your portfolio? Perhaps. The year end is
less than two months away. I have elaborated on the importance
of fall season as the best time to rearrange your portfolio.
Mainly, stock that rises during the year will continue to rise
heading into year end. On the other hand, stock that
underperformed, will continue to be sold heading into year end.
Now, the year end is almost here. While there are no guarantee
that you can buy at the best possible price, it is as close as
you can get. Stock does not turn exactly on the last day of the
year. Even when it does, investors will anticipate its movement
and make any arbitration move useless. But, the November-
December period is close enough for small investors to get the
best possible price.
Having said that, I don't advocate buying any stocks that fall
sharply during the year and selling any stocks that have risen a
lot. Fundamental still drives stock price movement in the long
run. Therefore, what you need to do first is to determine the
fair value of a common stock that you want to invest. I have
touched on this subject briefly in the past too.
If you are looking to invest, you can start researching stocks
that have fallen throughout the year. Until year end, these
stocks will continue to be depressed. Here are several list to
help you look. Fannie Mae (FNM), Lexmark (LXK), Pier 1 Imports
Inc. (PIR), Sharper Image Corp (SHRP), Seagate Technology (STX),
JoAnn Stores (JAS), Take Two Interactive (TTWO) and Flagstar
Bancorp (FBC).
If you own one of these stocks, you might want to continue
holding them until the year ends. This way, you will pay taxes
for fiscal year 2006 instead of 2005. Here are several list:
Apple Computer (AAPL), TXU Corp. (TXU), NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA),
Tesoro Petroleum (TSO) and Valero Energy (VLO).